Month: June 2016

Anne McKeig becomes the first American Indian on the Minnesota Supreme Court, bringing a different background than other justices. “I grew up in rural Minnesota in challenging circumstances surrounded by poverty,” McKeig wrote to Gov. Mark Dayton before he interviewed her, and two others, for the job. “The lessons I learned as a young woman… Read More

Minnesota overstepped its authority in a 2007 law that restricts buying electricity from North Dakota coal-fired power plants, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday. The Next Generation Energy Act violates the U.S. Constitution’s provision allowing only Congress to regulate commerce among states, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled. Wednesday’s ruling supports a 2014 lower… Read More

The most positive description of a high-level Wednesday meeting to set up a Minnesota special legislative session was that it “it was not as productive as I would have liked.” Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk, D-Cook, also said that “the tone of the speaker’s voice” was better than in previous meetings, even though no one… Read More

Transportation funding appears to remain the main hurdle to a special legislative session to fund Minnesota public works projects and fix a tax bill. A meeting of House and Senate public works negotiators Tuesday failed to produce any sign they are closer to agreement than when their regular session ended last month. Legislative leaders and… Read More

Minnesota Democrats and Republicans agree on the need for a special legislative session, but that does not mean one is certain. Democrats, led by Gov. Mark Dayton, argue that a one-day June session is needed to approve funding public works projects in a bonding bill. Most Republicans do not dispute the need for such a… Read More

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ABOUT

Don Davis

Davis has covered Minnesota politics and government for Forum Communications Company/Forum News Service since 2001. He is an Iowa native who was a reporter and editor at newspapers there, leaving the state to edit newspapers in Illinois, Oklahoma and Wyoming before becoming a full-time political reporter in North Dakota. Now, newspapers across Minnesota print his stories.